Yvan Muller
|birth = 16/8/1969 |debut = 1998 |champs = 1 (2003) |wins = 36 |no = 111 ||currentteam = }} Yvan Muller is a French racing driver who won the 2003 British Touring Car Championship. He was France's second champion in five years, following Laurent Aïello's victory in 1999. Background Yvan Muller was born in Altkirch, Haut-Rhin in 1969 and started racing in the French Formula Renault in 1988. BTCC History Yvan Muller started his BTCC career in 1998 taking the vacant seat left by Frank Biela at Audi. Yvan Muller finished 7th in the 1998 championship while his teammate John Bintcliffe finished 15th. Audi would leave at the end of 1998 BTCC and Yvan Muller moved to the Vauxhall Motorsport team run by Triple Eight Race Engineering for 1999 alongside John Cleland using the Vauxhall Vectra. Yvan Muller would win his first BTCC race at round 7 Brands Hatch, he would eventually finish 6th in the championship while teammate John Cleland finished 13th. 2000 was the last year for the Super Tourers in the BTCC. Yvan Muller drove for Vauxhall again while Jason Plato and Vincent Radermecker joined after leaving Renault and Volvo who pulled out at the end of 1999. Yvan Muller finished as the top driver for Vauxhall in 4th in the championship behind all three Ford drivers (Alain Menu, Anthony Reid and Rickard Rydell). in 2001 the regulations changed to the new Touring Cars. Vauxhall debuted its BTC-T Vauxhall Astra Coupe for both the Vauxhall Motorsport team and Egg Sport both run by Triple Eight Race Engineering. The Astra was the car to beat against its competitors. Yvan Muller and Jason Plato fought for the championship the whole season. Muller finished 2nd in the championship after his car caught fire in the final race leaving Plato as the champion. 2002 BTCC would be much of the same. The Astra was the best car against Honda, Peugeot, MG and Proton despite some reliability problems throughout the season. James Thompson moved up to Vauxhall Motorsport after 2001 champion Jason Plato left to drive in NASCAR. Yvan Muller finished 2nd in the championship from teammate James Thompson after more bad luck during the season and last few races caused him to again miss out on the title. Yvan Muller would again drive in 2003 for Vauxhall. The team now called VX Racing continued racing the Astra Coupe and also streached to a three car works Vauxhall/VXR team after Egg Sport was dropped. The Astra Coupe was again the car to beat and Yvan Muller and James Thompson again fought for the championship. Yvan Muller won his first title from teammate James Thompson after a very strong season. 2004 would be the last year for the Astra Coupe. The Astra was challenged very hard in 2004 by Honda, MG and Seat making its debut with former Vauxhall driver and 2001 champion Jason Plato, but consistency lead both the VX Racing teammates of Yvan Muller and James Thompson to fight for the championship. James Thompson won his second championship from Yvan Muller by one point. 2005 saw the new BTC-T Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch replace the extremely successful Astra Coupe for Vauxhall. The Astra Sport Hatch was out classed by the new Honda Integra and prevented Yvan Muller from winning a second title. He finished second in the championship for the 4th time in 5 years, making a decision at the end of 2005 Muller left the BTCC to drive for Seat in the WTCC. BTCC Record References References Category:Drivers